Tuesday, July 8, 2008

Printing fool

Tonight is Printing Night - I've got a bunch of patterns to print, as well as the patterns for the kits I'm making. I'm learning even more lessons about this new printer of mine as I work it this hard.

You know when you're first starting out with beading? And you're not sure how much you're going to do it, and you're trying out all the cheap inexpensive materials you can find because you can't imagine that the "good stuff" is worth all that money. And than, after a while, you discover that the materials you're using are pretty crummy and yes, the good stuff IS worth the price?

That lesson relates to other things too. We had a big monster printer that ate a lot of toner and space and Mom and I kept thinking that we must have too much printer for our needs. But by going through the Printer Follies of 2008, I'm discovering that nope. We really need that much printer. This new one is half the size, but it keeps needing breaks to cool down - which the old one never did. We just need to suck it up and use the monster. Lesson learned. (Three printers later.)

At least it's giving me lots of time to peruse Etsy like a madwoman. I custom ordered a new purse earlier today from an artisan on Etsy. I was able to pick my own fabrics, increase the size by two inches, make sure the handle is long enough to go over my shoulder comfortably, and have her add a zipper and an attached, matching key fob. How awesome is that?? Being self-employed in the craft biz makes me much more aware of how important and special it is to support other artists as well as shop at local, small businesses. (That's my excuse! Does it sound good??)